Lillian L. Brand's Legacy: The First 10 Years of the Brand Boeshaar Scholarship Program

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Lillian L. Brand's Legacy: The First 10 Years of the Brand Boeshaar Scholarship Program

The exhibition Lillian L. Brand's Legacy: The First 10 Years of the The Brand Boeshaar Scholarship Program in the Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery honors Lillian L. Brand’s philanthropic support of art education and highlights the successes of several scholarship recipients who are fulfilling their career dreams of working in art-related fields.

Davenport resident Lillian L. Brand established the Brand Boeshaar Scholarship in memory of her nephew, William Brand Boeshaar, an art student who attended St. Ambrose University. Four $12,000 scholarships are awarded each spring; each scholarship is named after one of Lillian L. Brand’s family members. Graduating high school seniors in eastern Iowa and western Illinois are eligible to apply for the scholarship, and recipients may use the scholarship for any accredited college art program. Since the inception of the scholarship in 2000, the Brand Boeshaar Foundation has awarded 40 scholarships totaling $480,000.

For Rock Island’s Lizzy Martinez, the scholarship made it possible for her to attend a private art school rather than a state university. “At Minneapolis College of Art and Design [MCAD], I was able to spend four years preparing for my life as an artist, rather than two years studying liberal arts and then two years in art-related courses, which is usually what a state school offers,” Martinez said. After graduating from MCAD in 2006, Martinez earned an MFA in painting at Boston University. Today, she is teaching design and drawing at St. Louis Community College, and of course, working on her own career as a painter.
Learn more about other artists represented in this exhibition.